Engineering Manager II, Machine Learning – User Understanding

Pinterest is seeking an Engineering Manager to lead our User Understanding team. This team builds and maintains the data and backend systems that drive user modeling, personalization and recommendations—impacting hundreds of millions of users every day. You’ll set technical vision, empower a talented group of engineers, and collaborate closely with Machine Learning, Product, and Data Science to unlock better user experiences. We’re looking for a leader with deep infrastructure expertise, a passion for personalization and ML-driven experience, and a strong record of delivering ML-enabling platforms at scale.

What you will do:

• Lead and mentor a team of experienced machine learning engineers in developing advanced user understanding models and systems, which are integral to key Pinterest products across Discovery, Ads, and Growth.


• Collaborate cross-functionally with partners in Product, Data Science, and Engineering to define strategy, set priorities, and effectively integrate user insights into core systems and product features.


• Drive experimentation and adoption of new user understanding models with product teams across Pinterest, ensuring measurable end-to-end impact on key metrics.


• Manage project execution and stakeholder communication, including roadmap planning, technical decision-making, risk mitigation, and progress updates to achieve business goals.


• Provide thought leadership in user modeling and recommender systems by setting a long-term technical vision and advancing the state-of-the-art in the field.


• Foster a collaborative, inclusive, and high-performing team culture.
  

What we’re looking for:

• 6+ years of industry experience in applied machine learning or closely related roles, with experience developing large-scale machine learning for recommendation or ads systems.


• 2+ years of people management experience leading engineering teams.


• Demonstrated ML expertise with a proven track record of impactful solutions and a deep understanding of large scale distributed systems.


• Strong technical leadership, including a passion for driving technical direction, system architecture, and designing robust, scalable ML solutions.

In-Office Requirement Statement:

• We recognize that the ideal environment for work is situational and may differ across departments. What this looks like day-to-day can vary based on the needs of each organization or role.

Relocation Statement:

• This position is not eligible for relocation assistance. Visit our PinFlex page to learn more about our working model.